New Arrivals: The E3 tie-in edition

E3 (which you all should know as a “Big Honking Video Game Trade Show”) is currently going down in California this week, where the likes of Sony, Nintendo Microsoft and dozens of more developers and publishers announce/show off/pimp out hundreds of new and upcoming titles. My ass has zero pull in the gaming industry (as opposed to the very-little-to-none that I have in the Comic Biz), which explains why I’m currently streaming the 3DS conference opposed to enjoying sunny California….indoors with other sweaty nerds and bloggers. On the brightside, I ain’t paying $10 for a Hot Dog for dinner.

My lameness aside, let’s talk a look at some new video game related figures we’ve gotten in recently. I mentioned we got in a ton of new Square Enix Play Art releases in the last article, so now’s the perfect time to look at them. First off, we have Nathan Drake, from the hit Playstation franchise Uncharted. Nate’s sporting a solid sculpt, but man, those elbow joints are disgusting, and they make the arms look a bit odd. Squenix could have definitely done a better job of hiding those, as that sort of thing is usually not a problem for them. At least they put some extra effort into his shoulder articulation, to increase pose-ability. In terms of accessories, Nathan’s sporting a pair of extra hands, and 3 different guns straight from the game; a T-bolt-Sniper rifle, aAK-47 and his trademark .45 Defender. From Final Fantasy XIII-2 we have Serah Farron, who ironically was the lead for XIII-2 despite her sister getting a figure first. While not as articulated as N-Drake, Serah doesn’t suffer from odd elbows joints. Like Drake she does come with variant hands, and her weapon can turn from a sword into a bow, which is cool. The third new release is the highly anticipated Solid Snake figure from Metal Gear Solid, a figure I’ve mentioned at least twice in the past. While Snake easily has the best sculpt out of the 3, he’s the only one of the trio that does not come with any variant hands, and only two weapons, a SOCOM handgun, and his FA-MAS rifle. It’s worth nothing though that he IS made of several different materials and has been given different textures to emphasize how realistic his gear looks/feels; as well as the ability to attach his rile and handgun to his back and side via a sling. Also scratch that no variant hands comment, he does, and Squenix really needs to update that info on their site. Each of these figures retail for about $60, and if you’re a big fan of em, I recommend you pick them up, as it’s going to be awhile before any other company can offer a better product. These are easily some of the best video game figures available on the market.

One of the cool things about E3 is when a company announces a surprise game no one was expecting to see and then we can all be excited for it (and then ultimately be disappointed by the final product). While that didn’t happen this year, I was surprised to see that Bioware had rescued their Mass Effect figures from DC Direct and released them via Big Fish Toys. Head’s up though continuity nerds, despite the fact that the box art says Mass Effect 3, they’re all actually from ME2. I’ll be honest, these aren’t the best Mass Effect figures, especially with Play Arts versions of at least Ashley, Shepard, and Garrus due out from Square Enix later this year. However, this may be the only chance to get characters like Mordin, Legion, Grunt, and Miranda in plastic form. They retail for about $20 each and there’s 8 in total; and while the quality may vary from figure to figure, it’s still cool to see figures that were at one point never going to see the light of day actually reach the shelves.

In addition to what we’ve looked at today, I would like to encourage our readers to swing by the shop/website to see what other video game related goodness we may have; we get stuff in weekly that I’m not even aware of, including some awesome imported Japanese figures and statues that are only available in-store!